There has been a lot of bad press surrounding Skype these days. Today, however, there is good news for Skype. The US House of Representatives Committee on Administration has announced that Skype will be made available to the Members of Congress and their staff to improve efficiency and cut down on time spent traveling.

This was what the Committee on Administration said announcing the decision:

We are pleased to announce that, after working with Republican Leaders and various House stakeholders, Members and staff can now use popular video teleconferencing services within the House network to communicate with constituents.

Skype says that their engineers have worked with the Congressional network security team to ensure the security of the communication channel. With this arrangement, each Congressional office will have access to a Skype Manager account with one person in charge.

This is what Staci Pies of Skype wrote:

From my interactions with the (collaboration with the Congressional network security team) House information security team, this was critically important to approving the use of Skype.

Skype is used by millions of users around the world to keep in touch with their loved ones. With the Congress too adopting the technology, it will help keep the Members of the Congress keep in touch with their constituents without as much travelling.

Member and staff of the Congress will also have access to ooVoo video teleconferencing service.